Happy May! Spring is in full swing and as we nearer the summer time, here at Well Read Women HQ we’ve been working hard behind the scenes to bring a brand new feature. We’re launching a podcast!
We’ll be bringing you exclusive interviews with some of the fabulous authors behind our subscription picks, alongside conversations with industry voices and creators. Expect recommendations, deep dives, book news, and so much more. We can’t wait to share this with the world, so keep your ears peeled!
This month we’ve got a stellar line up with three fantastic debut novels, a fabulous translated pick and a novel that we think is worthy of all its award nominations.
Hardback Picks
A Private Man by Stephanie Sy-Quia
Rome, 1953. David is young, handsome, charismatic and sworn to celibacy. He is freshly ordained, and about to return to England to begin life as a priest.
Devotion to God is all he’s ever known. In London, Margaret is entangled in an impossible love affair. Committed to living on her own terms without sacrificing her faith, she becomes drawn to a women’s movement challenging the archaic rules of the Church.
When their lives are thrown together at a Catholic college in a quiet village, an undeniable connection forms between them. Stephanie Sy-Quia’s A Private Man is a stunning story of devotion and sacrifice, and of the consequences of our actions that ripple throughout generations.
Why we chose it - Here at WRW HQ, We’ve been thinking about A Private Man ever since we finished it. The novel is a beautiful slow-burn story of forbidden love, exploring religion, sacrifice, and how the choices we make ripple down to future generations. At the heart of the novel, we have the brilliant Margaret, whose character explores the position of women within the Catholic Church during the 1950s. We think readers will love this and we’re thrilled to share that we have an exclusive interview with Stephanie coming soon!
Sour Fruit by Ahana Verdi
Avni is done with the meaningless carousel of tame sex. Tender women repel her. Clumsy men disgust her.
She wants to make her flesh electric; to fill the chasm inside her created by her mundane job, her ex who died in a bizarre tragedy, and her sick aunt, whose diseased brain is swallowing memories. Then there’s the sour fruit, the bad meat that she craves. She longs for something to make her feel full.
Something beyond all the pointless sex and depravity. When she is sucked into the orbit of a couple who seem as unstitched as she is, Avni thinks she may have found what she is looking for. But each time she fulfils her darkest needs her appetite grows, and she begins to spiral into obsession.
There's that bone-deep ache again. Is it love? Or a different kind of hunger?
Why we chose it - Sour Fruit is an exciting, edgy debut exploring sex, grief, and female desire. This sits firmly in the “weird girly” book category, and we loved Virdi’s writing! It is bold, dark, and utterly brilliant.
Frida Slattery as Herself by Ana Kinsella
When Frida Slattery and John Reddan meet in a Dublin pub in 2005, neither can imagine how they will come to shape and define each other’s lives. Frida is struggling to launch her acting career, while John is already gaining a name for himself as a director. From the first they see in each other potential and the chance to create work that matters, though the lines between collaboration and exploitation, friendship and desire will prove dangerously slippery.
With the financial crisis looming, the next 16 years takes them from Dublin to London, via New York and LA, and through success and disappointment, joy and heartbreak. Their connection is tested and stretched to the point of rupture, but something remains that outlasts both their work and their own shifting perceptions. Frida Slattery as Hersle is an unforgettable story of love, artistic collaboration, and two people coming of age, together and apart.
Why we chose it - Set against the backdrop of the acting world, Frida Slattery as Herself follows an aspiring actress and an emerging playwright who meet in a pub in 2005 and go on to shape each other’s lives over the course of 17 years, from Dublin to London to LA. It is an epic tale of love, ambition, and artistic freedom. This debut is perfect for fans of Normal People and La La Land! This also comes with an exclusive interview with Ana.
Paperback Picks
Bring The House Down by Charlotte Runchie
Theatre critic Alex Lyons made his name from his brutal, brilliant reviews. So when he sees Hayley Sinclair's dismal one-woman show at the Edinburgh Fringe, he thinks nothing of dashing off another of his trademark one-star pans for the newspaper. He also thinks nothing of taking her home after the performance, failing at any point to mention who he is.
What he doesn't expect is for Hayley to revamp her show into a review of Alex's entire life, exposing what an awful person he really is. Worse, the show is a smash hit, and Alex is about to become national news. But can Hayley bring the establishment down without taking herself with it? Funny and thrilling, Bring the House Down gives you a front row seat to the downfall of the people who tell us what to think.
It's about art, performance, female rage, and how while revenge may be sweet, it can also be perilous.
Why we chose it - This novel explores cancel culture set against the exciting backdrop of the Edinburgh Fringe. It’s reflective and, at times, funny, but at its centre unpacks themes like grief, motherhood, and misogyny. We were glued to the pages and struggled to put it down!
Hooked by Asako Yuzuki
Eriko really wouldn't mind being savaged, if it was her best friend doing the savaging. Eriko's life appears perfect – devoted parents, pristine apartment and a high-flying job in the seafood division of one of Japan's largest trading companies. Her latest project, to reintroduce the controversial Nile perch fish into the Japanese market, is characteristically ambitious.
But beneath her flawless surface she is wracked by loneliness. Eriko becomes fascinated with a popular blog written by a housewife, Shoko. Shoko’s posts about convenience-store food and her messy home are the opposite of the typical manicured housewife.
When Eriko tracks Shoko down at her favourite restaurant, Shoko is at first charmed by her new companion. But soon Eriko's obsession with Shoko begins to spiral out of control. How far will she go to hold on to the best friend she’s ever had? Beautifully translated by Polly Barton, Hooked is a delicious exploration of food, loneliness and womanhood in contemporary Japan.
Why we chose it - Butter by Asako Yuzuki has been a huge bestseller in the U.K. since its release, and she is back with another gripping story. This page-turner will have you gripped as it explores intense female friendship, obsession, and loneliness, while shining a light on the huge gender expectations placed on women in contemporary Japan.
Audition by Katie Kitamura
One woman, the performance of a lifetime. Or two. An exhilarating, destabilising novel that asks whether we ever really know the people we loveTwo people meet for lunch in a Manhattan restaurant.
She’s an accomplished actress in rehearsals for an upcoming premiere. He’s attractive, troubling, young – young enough to be her son. Who is he to her, and who is she to him? In this compulsively readable, brilliantly constructed novel, two competing narratives unspool, rewriting our understanding of the roles we play every day – partner, parent, creator, muse – and the truths every performance masks, especially from those who think they know us most intimately.
Taut and hypnotic, Audition is Katie Kitamura at her virtuosic best.
Why we chose it - It’s likely you’ll have seen Audition everywhere, and for good reason. It was shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize and longlisted for the 2026 Women’s Prize for Fiction. Split into two parts, Audition is a slim novel with a lot of substance. The prose is beautiful, but with a plot that leaves you unsettled and uncertain. Exploring topics like aging, marriage, motherhood, and performance, this is one of the most thought-provoking reads we’ve read in a long time, and it’s worthy of all the praise it has received!
And that's a wrap on our May books! Which one is calling your name?